Meditation

Why You Should Meditate Everyday

08/24/15

Mindfulness is something that is best cultivated daily. Like a seed that is planted, a regular caring for that seed is needed in order for it to first germinate then grow into its fully realized plant form.

It would be nice if we could water the plant, give it all it’s nutrients in one go and have it grow instantly – a bit like the ‘hydrator’ from Back to the Future II. Sadly, this isn’t the case!

Mindfulness is in principle no different to growing plants, so therefore it is essential that we give our mind the metaphorical nutrients and water they need every single day. This is why we eat food everyday, to ensure that we have enough energy for all the activities we undertake.

Practicing mindfulness on a daily basis is what will give our minds the awareness, the calmness and the insight they need to properly navigate the terrain of our life, our relationships and most importantly, ourselves.

That being said – sitting meditation is an amazing tool to cultivate your mindfulness. However there are several different types of sitting meditation that can often leave people feeling confused as exactly which method to focus on.

For the specific purpose of cultivating mindfulness, you do not necessarily have to focus on a specific meditation object such as your breath.

It is better to focus on 2-5 things, or as many things as you can sustain in your awareness throughout your meditation without losing focus.

This could entail incorporating some kind of mental body scanning into your meditation, or alternating your focus every few minutes. For example: focusing only on sounds for a few minutes then focusing on only the bodily sensations you feel, focusing on only your thoughts or emotions you are experiencing, etc. The idea here is to really get as creative as you can with this and see how many things you can be mindful of while sitting quietly.

For a steady increase in mindfulness, I’d recommend engaging in a structured sitting meditation that you do at least once a day. Meditation is my primary method for improving mindfulness daily, and I find it the most reliable. Just don’t forget to keep practicing your mindful awareness throughout your everyday life when you leave the cushion!

Meditation has been used for thousands of years to make people more aware of the present moment, and even used as a method to achieve a state of enlightenment, which can be viewed sometimes viewed as pure and unfiltered awareness.

Even a smidgen of this pure and unfiltered awareness for 1 second in your day could completely transform your view of the world and how you go about your daily life.

It is an especially valuable tool for examining the contents of our minds, and for getting some healthy distance from our unhealthy thought patterns and our unhealthy recurring emotions.

Take the time to meditate regularly and you will be more aware of when you are going into anxiety, into depression, into worry, into anger, into cravings. Then you can have the awareness to change how you react to those things.

Meditation is absolutely essential in creating a gap between those negative stimuli – that you may experience as thoughts or an initial sensation – and your reaction to them. That reaction is entirely up to you, and with daily meditation practice, you can begin to consistently choose healthier responses to these thoughts or emotions that plague you.

Session by session, you become more free.

It’s a fantastic way to physically train and rewire your brain to become aware of the contents of your mind and the world around you. It creates the essential habit of mindfulness that can then be translated into different areas of your life.

Whether for 5 minutes or 25 minutes a day, whether once or three times a day, create a meditation practice that works well for you and stick to it!

Before you know it, your mindfulness levels will increase day by day, and you will become more aware of your own emotional state and you will be better able to manage or let go of them.

You will be able to relate to people better, and you will be much less stressed and have a more pronounced feeling of wellbeing.